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mission to the former colony in 2013 was to protect people displaced by
sectarian conflict – now French troops are accused of engaging in child
abuse
People flee Bangui for Cameroon by road in 2014 Photograph: AFP
It was named Operation Sangaris,
after a butterfly with a tiny lifespan native to central Africa. France
hoped that its peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic
(CAR) would be similarly short-lived.
“The situation in the Central African Republic
has become alarming, and even terrifying,” the French president,
François Hollande, said in December 2013, ordering the deployment of
1,200 troops to reinforce the 400 already stationed there. “This
operation will be short.”
In 2000, one of the UN's Millennium Development Goals committed the world to reduce child mortality rates by September 2015. At the time, out of every 1,000 live births, an average of 90 children died before the age of five.
Now
the average is just 46. The UN says 17,000 fewer children are dying
every day. Unicef called this "one of the most significant achievements
in human history".
The Harare international festival of the Arts kicked off yesterday Tuesday April 29, 2015 in the Harare Gardens and surrounding places. More pics after cut..
A number of Zimbabweans on Tuesday rallied to the defence of newly-elected Miss World Zimbabwe after locals said she was "ugly".
Financial
adviser Emily Kachote, 25, was given Zimbabwe's top modelling title in
a ceremony in Harare on Saturday. She will represent Zimbabwe in the
Miss World contest.
Her selection prompted a flood of sometimes spiteful criticism on social media.
"Where
is her beauty? Why didn't they just say they couldn't get a winner this
year?" wrote one of several Facebook and Twitter users.
Tensions over attacks on migrants in South Africa will be officially
set aside as regional leaders meet for a summit in Zimbabwe on Wednesday
to plan industrial growth, an official said.
But heads of state
from countries whose nationals were killed or forced to flee might
choose to raise the issue, Zimbabwe's presidential spokesperson George
Charamba told AFP.
"It's an extraordinary summit and by definition it's a one-issue summit," he said.
"Whether people are going to take advantage and bring the matter up will be at the discretion of the heads of state."
The destructive attacks in South Africa on Nigerians and
other sub-Saharan Africans are tragic and mindlessly wrong. The assaults sorely
bruise the objective of inter-African harmony. They also put an eraser to the
idyll of progress and domestic tranquility many people saw when gazing at South
Africa. The xenophobia is actually a lethal show of misdirected angry. The
attacks point to deep, underlying ruptures within the South African political
economy that actually have little to with the presence of Nigerian or other
Black Africans in that nation. Nigerians have become scapegoats in a
fundamentally domestic struggle.
President-elect, Gen Buhari met with the ambassadors of Canada, Amb.
Perry John Calderwood (above) Germany Ambassador, Michael Zenner and
Tanzania Ambassador, Daniel Ole Njoolay, in Abuja yesterday Tuesday, April 28, 2015. More pics after cut...
WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. works out at
the Mayweather Boxing Club on April 14, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Image by: AFP
Mayweather, a five-division world champion who has won all 47
of his fights (26 by knockout), was speaking in a conference call on
Wednesday ahead of his mega bout with Manny Pacquaio at the MGM Grand in
Las Vegas on May 2.
"No disrespect to Muhammad Ali, but he did it in one division," said the 38-year-old Mayweather as per BBC Sport.
WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines
poses during a fan rally at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada
April 28, 2015.
According to Roach, times were so hard for poverty-stricken
Pacquiao family in the Philippines that his father cooked the dog for
food, the Independent reported on Wednesday.
Pacquiao was so devastated by this he went to live on the streets, before turning professional just two years later aged 14.
The police firing water cannons and tear gas at protesters in Bujumbura on Sunday.Credit
Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
BUJUMBURA,
Burundi — When Faustin Kobagaya fled his northern Burundi home in
March, sneaking through the night to the Rwandan border, he was running
from what could soon become another violent chapter in his country’s
fratricidal history.
As
a 10-year-old in 1993, Mr. Kobagaya, a member of Burundi’s Tutsi
minority, lost most of his extended family in a wave of ethnic violence
that followed the assassination of the country’s first democratically
elected president, Melchior Ndadaye. The murder of Ndadaye, a Hutu,
unleashed a 12-year civil war in which an estimated 300,000 Burundians
were killed. It also helped embolden anti-Tutsi extremists in Rwanda,
who, only six months later, would begin to carry out Rwanda’s genocide
in 1994.
There is increased
speculation about the whereabouts of Abubakar Shekau in the Nigerian
media. His last media broadcast was in early March when he pledged
allegiance to the self-proclaimed Islamic State and threatened to
disrupt Nigeria’s presidential and gubernatorial elections.
Eight convicted drug smugglers were executed by firing squad
in Indonesia today, including citizens of Australia, Brazil, Nigeria,
and one Indonesian. The execution of a ninth convict, a Filipina woman,
was postponed while her case is reviewed. A French citizen, also on the
list to be executed, had earlier won a two-week reprieve.
Students from an all-girls
Catholic school, St Scholastica's College, wear masks depicting
kidnapped African school girls in Manila, June 27, 2014.
It is perhaps the best-received news ever announced by the Nigeria Defense Headquarters—that 293 women and girls have been rescued by Nigerian troops from Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa forest.
In
various social media platforms, Nigerians are celebrating the news as
if the war against terror had been won. They are giving rare applause to
the military, which so many have criticized for being too laid-back.
“That
200 Girls and 93 women who were captives of the savages of Sambisa
Forest are now rescued by our Military is best news for today,” an
excited Oby Ezekwesili, convener of the Bring Back Our Girls movement,
wrote on her Twitter handle.
“We rejoice for news of rescue of several of our female citizens from Sambisa forest by our military,” she added.
Oscar-winning goddess Lupita Nyong’o is heading to South Africa to shoot her latest movie.
Picture credit: Harper's Bazaar
According to City Press, Lupita will early next month shoot
parts of her Disney film “Queen of Katwe” on location in Johannesburg.
Production on the film which also stars Nigerian-born actor David Oyelowo has begun in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Passengers disembark the AirAsia Philippines Airbus A320
plastered with the image of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao as they arrive
from Cebu at the domestic airport in Pasay city, metro Manila Apiril
28, 2015.
Pacquiao is in top form both in mind and spirit after he
traded his boozing, gambling and womanising ways for a devout life of
prayer, his spiritual adviser, Jeric Soriano, told AFP in a recent
Manila interview.
"Manny is a God-fearing man. Inside his heart of
hearts he really loved God. Except the world got to him," Soriano said
of Pacquiao's party-boy lifestyle before he became born-again in 2012.
Pacquiao
now dreams of becoming a pastor and is building a 6,000-square metre
(1.5-acre) "worship house" in his southern Philippine hometown of
General Santos as a monument to his spiritual rebirth, Soriano said.
When I was younger, my family moved to Zurich, Switzerland for five years because of my dad's job.
Not only was Switzerland a great place to be an American expat, it was also a great home base for all the traveling my family did both in Europe and in other continents.
Out of all the amazing trips we took, there is one that really sticks out in my mind: our two-week trip to South Africa.
This is one of the only trips my family ever planned with the help of
a travel agent. It was an investment, but a worthwhile one, because the
trip left me with countless memories that I'll hold onto forever.
South Africa is a diverse country with so much to offer. There are
larger cities to visit such as Johannesburg, Capetown, and the capital,
Pretoria. Then there's Kruger National Park, which is a must for
adventurous travelers hoping to experience a safari. There are beaches
for surfers or sunbathers, and vineyards for wine aficionados.
ISIS Wants Its New Caliphate in Tunisia (The Daily Beast)
There are increased signs that the self-proclaimed Islamic State has sets its sights on expanding its caliphate to Tunisia next.
In
the last two weeks, ISIS has published videos taunting the government,
shared pictures of some its fighters brandishing guns and made fun of a
Tunisian tourism campaign in the wake of a March bombing at a museum
that was reportedly carried out by ISIS. The group also has posted
online photos of supposed Tunisian martyrs to its cause—though the
tweets don’t make clear where those purported members died.
ISIS also announced that it is creating the Islamic State of Afrikah, an antiquated name for the region that is now Tunisia.
The
All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that all accredited media
organizations in the country, including the African Independent
Television (AIT), are free to cover the activities of the
President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday
by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party
said the incoming Buhari Administration will not discriminate against
any media organization, irrespective of its role during the
electioneering campaign leading up to the recent polls.
SA football legend John Shoes Moshoeu who died last week of stomach cancer was buried with full honours at the West Park Cemetry in Johannesburg, on 27 April 2015.More pics after cut...
A demonstrator confronts police near Camden Yards during a protest
against the death in police custody of Freddie Gray in Baltimore April
25, 2015.
The riots broke out just blocks from the funeral of Freddie Gray and
spread through much of West Baltimore in the most violent protests
against police treatment of African Americans since arson and gunfire in
Ferguson, Missouri, last year.
A state of emergency was declared
by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, who sent in the National
Guard, and a curfew was imposed in the largely black city from Tuesday
night, with exceptions for work and medical emergencies. More pics after cut...
This is what President Jacob Zuma told thousands of people at
the Freedom Day celebrations at the Union Buildings, Pretoria,
yesterday.
In off-the-cuff comments, Zuma took exception to
suggestions that South Africa alone was to blame for the attacks on its
foreign residents sparked by a labour dispute in KwaZulu-Natal and which
spread to Gauteng.
"As much as we have a problem, our
neighbouring countries contribute to this. It's not useful to be
critical of South Africa as if we mushroom these foreign nationals and
then mistreat them," he said.
A Nigerien soldier covers his face while taking a picture of a
mass grave in the recently retaken town of Damasak, Nigeria. Image by: REUTERS
Reports of decomposing bodies littering the streets of
Damasak came as president Muhammadu Buhari denounced the Islamists as a
bogus religious group and vowed a hard line against them when he comes
to power at the end of next month.
Northeast Nigeria has been
relentlessly targeted throughout the jihadists' six-year uprising but
there had been a lull in violence in recent weeks.
A Yazidi girl displaced by ISIS militants is photographed in northern Iraq on Dec. 10, 2014.
Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by terrorist group Boko
Haram are still missing. Despite thousands of concerned tweets under a
widespread #BringBackOurGirls hashtag, experts still can't say for sure if they'll ever be rescued.
Obiageli Ezekwesili, the cofounder of the Bring Back Our Girls organization, is still searching for answers.
"The girls that you tweeted about ... are not yet back," she told the
audience at the sixth annual Women in the World Summit in New York on
April 23. "It is not time to move on."
Boko Haram fighters parading on a tank in an unidentified town.
Boko Haram’s commitment to the jihadi group the Islamic State, has
just become even more pronounced, after the Nigerian terrorist
organization changed its name to ISWAP or Islamic State’s West Africa
Province.
The move appears to give the Islamic State (IS, formerly
ISIS/ISIL) a foothold outside of the Middle East and North Africa
for the first time, as the terrorist organization tries to create
a global caliphate.
Links between the two militant Islamist organizations have grown
over the last year. A recent video released by IS sang the
praises of Boko Haram fighters, while the Nigeria-based militant
group also released a propaganda video, via IS’s social media
channels.
The South African Department of International Relations and
Cooperation, has described the recall of Nigeria's High Commissioner as
an "unfortunate and regrettable" diplomatic step.
In a statement, Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for DIRCO, said the
South African government was shocked that the Nigerian government would
resort "to such an extraordinary diplomatic step to express outrage at
actions or behaviour of another government".
Landry NshimiyePeople
are escorted from the scene by police during a protest against
President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in power in Burundi's
capital Bujumbura on April 27, 2015
Bujumbura
(Burundi) (AFP) -
Authorities in Burundi arrested a leading dissident
and shut down the main independent radio station Monday as they battled a
second day of demonstrations against a bid by the president to cling to
power for a third term.
The army was also deployed around the capital Bujumbura, after the
Red Cross said two people were shot dead in clashes with police in the
capital Bujumbura on Sunday. A third person died from their wounds and
two more were killed in alleged overnight attacks by ruling party
militia.
Sita Karka, suffering two broken
legs from Saturday's massive earthquake, arrives by helicopter from the
heavily-damaged Ranachour village at a landing zone in the town of
Gorkha, Nepal, Tuesday, April 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
At Dubai International
Airport, workers loaded crates packed with relief aid into a Boeing 747
destined for Nepal, just over a four-hour flight away.
The Gulf
commercial hub is home to a sprawling logistical and warehouse facility
known as International Humanitarian City that is used by United Nations
agencies and NGOs to deploy humanitarian aid.
The chief executive
of IHC, Shaima al-Zarooni, said relief workers have faced difficulties
in delivering needed aid such as temporary shelters, satellite
communications gear and medical equipment because of closures and
congestion at the airport in Kathmandu.
The United Arab Emirates,
which includes Dubai, announced on Sunday it was deploying
search-and-rescue team to Nepal on Sunday to help with recovery and
relief efforts. More pics after cut....
The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile began erupting for the first time since 1972 on Wednesday, forcing nearly 1,500 residents of Ensenada, a village at the foot of the volcano in the south of the country, to flee to safer locations.
The volcano, which had been inactive for 42 years, spewed an ash cloud that rose at least 50,000 feet above the volcano, which erupted for the second time early Thursday, turning the sky into a dark reddish hue, the Associated Press (AP) reported, adding that Ensenada, which sits at the foot of the 6,500-foot peak, was covered in thick ash.
The Senate President, David Mark paid a courtesy visit to Nigeria's President Elect, Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Thursday, April 23, 2015. More pics after cut...
In Nigeria's political history, there are names that cannot be erased
so soon after making impact in the country's politics. PAUL CHIAMA
looks at Nigeria's political dynasties still surviving till date.
Saraki Dynasty
In Kwara State, being part of the political dynasty established by
the late 'strong man of Kwara politics' (as he was famously known),
Alhaji Abubakar Olusola Saraki, is the beginning of political sagacity,
at least, for young politicians in the state who want to remain
relevant.
Saraki was a Second Republic Senate leader. His son, who was governor
of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, is also a senator today and has become
the leading icon of the dynasty. Going by possible political
permutations, Bukola Saraki is also a potential Senate president. The
elder Saraki was also elected to Senate again in 1983 on the platform of
the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
A migrant disembarks from the Italian Coast Guard ship Gregretti
which is believed to be carrying 27 survivors of the migrant shipwreck
in the mediterranean, at Catania port on April 20, 2015 in Catania,
Italy. Image by: Getty Images
"The escalation of armed violence in Libya has driven more
than half a million people from their homes" from May 14, 2014 until the
beginning of April, a report said.
The largest number of them, more than 126,000, have fled to the capital, with second city Benghazi taking another 110,000.
Foreign men from Malawi queue to board buses from a camp for
those affected by anti-immigrant violence in Chatsworth north of Durban,
April 18, 2015. Image by: REUTERS
This is according to Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA)
boss, John Kapito who said "it will help show South Africans that people
depend on one another across the global and the continent."
He said the shop owners of Pep, Game and Shoprite have been tipped to close the shops on Friday.
“We
have ordered them to remain closed for the day because we are avoiding
scenes which you and I don’t want to happen. The demos will be
characterised by protests against the attacks on foreigners out there.”
The governments of Borno and Kano states have agreed to
sponsor about 100 children orphaned by Boko Haram insurgents through
school.
Under the scheme, the students will be sponsored in various primary schools in Kano State.
The sponsorship arrangement was made known on Monday by the
Borno State Head of Service, Mr. Yakubu Bukar, who
represented Governor Kashim Shettima at a send off ceremony for the children.
Bukar, at the ceremony which preceded the departure of the
children to Kano, congratulated them on being selected by the government
for sponsorship through primary school up to the tertiary education
level.
Former Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs star John Shoes Moshoeu has sadly passed away after a long battle with cancer.
South African football agent, Glyn BinkinHe tweeted: "May be gone
but will never be forgotten and his family have requested their privacy
and that they may be allowed to mourn in peace."
This was
followed by a tweet from Sports presenter Robert Marawa who mentioned
that the player was 'in the presence of some members of the Class of
'96'' when he drew his last breath at 15:00 on Tuesday.
Nigeria's President-elect Muhammadu Buhari and former President Olusegun
Obasanjo met in Abuja yesterday Monday, April 20, 2015. More pics after cut....
Foreign nationals queue for food at a
temporary refugee camp, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday,
April 20, 2015.
The South African army has been deployed to areas in that remain
volatile after a spate of attacks targeting immigrants, the defense
minister announced on Tuesday.
Soldiers have already been sent to
support police in troubled areas, Defense Minister Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula said in a live broadcast.
The minister made the
announcement in Alexandra, a Johannesburg township where a Zimbabwean
couple survived a shooting overnight. The man was shot in the neck and
his partner was shot in her leg, the minister said. Both Zimbabweans
were treated and discharged from hospital.
Guinea President Alpha Condé, center, mingles with Rev. Jesse Jackson,
second from left, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and Ron Dellums, right, a
former mayor of Oakland and former congressman. (Pete Marovich/For The
Washington Post)
Alpha Condé, the reserved and slender president of Guinea, retired to
his sprawling suite Wednesday evening at the Four Seasons in
Georgetown, having just wrapped up a long day of meetings on the Hill.
The 77-year-old leader had bags under his eyes, and his handlers were
concerned he wouldn’t appear vibrant in photographs. But there was more
politicking to be done, so the president of the Ebola-ravaged nation
changed from his sharp navy suit into a loose burnt-orange top and dark
slacks and kept working late into the night.
But the court acquitted Morsi -- Egypt's first freely elected
president -- of murder charges that could have seen him sentenced to
death over the killings of a journalist and two protesters during
clashes outside a presidential palace in 2012.
Morsi, a leader of
the now blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood movement, and the other
defendants were charged with "using violence and arresting and torturing
protesters" during the December 5, 2012 clashes.
CONNECTED: Bishop Eric Mkhize, senior pastor at the Faith Centre Malvern Assembly in eastern Johannesburg, delivers a sermon from his iPad. Image by: MOELETSI MABE
Printed Bibles and hymn books are no longer part of many church services as priests and congregants embrace everything from iPads to electronic banking and social media forums including Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp.
The benefits are convenience, saving on printing and improved communication.
"I haven't called this imbizo to say we are responsible‚ but because of your numbers you can stop this carnage. We believe that there's a third force to all of this‚” he said.
"You have all heard misleading reports and rumours saying the Zulus are mobilising and getting into trains to Johannesburg to fight. Those are people who want to pit us against each other."
In a letter titled "Prince Buruji Kashamu: Abduction Plans By United States of America Agents in Collaboration with Law Enforcement Agencies in Nigeria.” sent to the National Human Rights Commission NHRC signed by his lawyer, Mr Ajibola Oluyede dated April 15th, Prince Kashamu
said the former President's plans to extradite him to the US is a form of revenge against him for the comprehensive political defeat he (Obasanjo) suffered because of Kashamu in the PDP.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has denied spending two trillion Nigerian naira, or over $10 billion, to win votes for his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the recent general elections after a Nigerian newspaper accused the outgoing president of doling out the cash to PDP officials and close aides in an attempt to win polling booths and local governments. Some officials allegedly used the cash to purchase expensive cars and other luxury items rather than distribute the funds to voters and groups.
Foreign nationals queue for food at a
temporary refugee camp, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday,
April 20, 2015. 
